Method of forming an axle housing



Oct. 11, 1938. J. H. GETTIG METHOD OF FORMING AN AXLE HOUSING Filed Oct.'7, 1936 ll 4 P Z3 '55 of the housing.

Patented Oct. 11 1938 UNITED STATES" PATENT. on-"ice METHOD or FORMINGan AXLE HOUSING Joseph H. Gettig, Buchanan, Mich, assignor to ClarkEquipment Company, a oorporation'ot Michigan Buchanan, Mich,

Application October '1, 1936, Serial Nttmuzs 10 Claims. (Cl. 29 1531)This invention relates to a method of forming an axle housing, and isdirected particularly to the formation of axle housings of the banjotype.

It has been contemplated to form an axle housing from a piece of tubingby slotting the central portion of 'the tubing, swaging down theextending' arm portions on opposite sides of the slotted portion of thetubing, expanding the slotted portion to form a banjo frame, and thenupsetting m the ends of the arm portions to provide bearing seats forhousings of the full floating type, or to provide brake flanges andintemal' bearing seats for housings of the passenger car type.

One of the main disadvantages encountered in 5 previous processes withwhich I am familiar, has been the power required to swage thearms of thehousing down to the proper wall thickness without producing distortionof the housings. The swagingoperation is costly and requires considgeerable power. However, it is a necessary part of the process since theoriginal tube thickness has heretofore been such that thickening of thearms is essential in order to provide adequate strength and rigidity.Such a process is generally disg5 closed in Reissue Patent No.20,103,issuedSeptember 8, 1936, to George Spatta.

The present invention contemplates a departure from this process in thatthe swagi'ng step is eliminated, and the original tube has a wallthickness equal to the wall thickness required in the arm portions afterthe housing has been formed. ,1

One object of the present invention is to form an axle housing of thistype by flattening and 35 central portion of a tube, then expanding theflattened portion to form a banjo frame.

Another object of the present invention is to form from a tubular blankof a wall thickness substantially equal to thewall thickness required inthe arms of the finished housing, a flattened vcentral portion by meansof rolls or a press, the

defining edges of this portion being opened for reception of a spreadingdie which then operates to produce .the'banjo frame. I a

The present invention is distinctly advantageous in allowing theuse of atube of the required wall thickness which, during the formation of thebanjo frame, is thinned at its central portion 50 to a wall thicknesscorresponding to that required for the frame without any substantialelongation of the blank, and without requiring any swaging operationsfor reducing the diameter and increasing the wall thickness of the armportions Figure '4 shows simultaneously reducing the wall thickness ofthe Other objects and advantages .of the present invention will appearmore fullyfrom the following detailed description of the inventionwhich, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, will discloseto those skilled in the art the particular manner in which the axlehousing of the present invention is formed.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the. blank employed in the presentprocess;

Figure 2 is a view showing the blank after the flattening operation;

- Figure 3 is a view corresponding to Figure 2 with the defining edgesof the flattenedportion sheared oi! preparatory to the spreadingoperation; 1

the initial spreading of the flattened portion;

Figure 5 shows the first spreading operation for forming the banjoframe;

Flgurefi is a plan view partly in section showing the completion of thebanjo portion of the housing; I

Figure '7 is a side elevational view of the housing of Figure G'finishedto provide a housing of the full floating type; and

Figure 8 shows the housing of Figure 6 finished to provide a passengercar type of housing.

Referring now in detail to the'drawing, the blank 5'shown in Figure 1 ispreferably formed from seamless tubing or the like, and has a wallthickness substantially equivalent to the final thickness required forthe arm portions of the housing. The diameter of the blank correspondsto the diameter required in the finished arm portions.

If desired, the blank 5 can be formed from flat sheet stock rolled intotubular form and welded longitudinally, as disclosed in the patent toHabicht, No. 1,970,231, issued August 14, 1934.

The blank 5 is flrst subjected preferably to a transverse rollingoperation, although a press may be employed, which produces theflattened central section 6 intermediate the extending arm that the webportionvof the banjo, as well as the two flanges which. are turned in atopposite edges of the web, can be readily formed from this portion. k

' After the formation of the flattened portion, whether by rolling'or bythe use of a press, the blank 6 may be subjected to a shearing operationwhich shears off the defining edges of the flattened portion 6, asindicated at 8 in Figure 3. This provides a slotted opening at theopposite extremities of the transverse flattened portion and insuresproper separation of the two adjacent portions of the blank when thespreading die is introduced therebetween. By the flattening operationshown in Figure 2, the wall thickness of the flattened portion isreduced since the wall thickness of the banjo portion of the frame neednot be as great as that of'the arm portions and, by this thinning orreduction in. wall thickness, a greater surface area is provided inorder tail in the Spattareissue patent referred to to produce thegreater cubical or volumetrical displacement when the banjo frame isformed.

It .may be desirable, in order to facilitate spreading of the flattenedportion, to first pass a punch longitudinally through the blank in orderto slightly open the slotted portions 8 of the flattened portion 6 ofthe housing. This step is illustrated in Figure 4 in which thebullet-shaped punch ill is passed longitudinally through the housing tospread the central flattened portion 6 slightly outwardly and to spreadapart the sheared edges 8 as indicated at 9, forming a preliminary slotwhich receives the head of the spreading die. The passage of this punchthrough the blank also". produces the slightly rounded spreading portionl2 centrally in the flattened portion 6 of the .blank, thereby initiallyforcing part of the metal outwardly so that upon further spreading, notas much metal will be moved. This step, however, is optional as theflattening may be so controlled as to produce an initial spread openingafter theshearing operation shown in Figure 3 without the use of thefaces extending substantially parallel to the axis of .the opening.After the central portion 6 has been spread into the form shown at l3in' Figure 5, the: final spreadin'goperation is performed by meansofvsuitable dies, as shown in Figure 6, in which the housing is heldbetween a pair of gripping dies l4 and i6, and internal die members l6are spread outwardly by the d'e head I1 to force the portions 13 of thehousing into semicircular form and at the same time, bend over the upperand lower edges 8 to form the banjo edges i 8 defining the banjo openingand terminating the web portion of the banjo frame. This is also shownin the Spatta patent referred to above.

After the banjo frame has been formed with the defining flanges l8thereabout, the throat portions of the housing which join the banjo tothe arm portion 1 and whichare indicated generally at iii, arestraightened in any'usual or desired manner, and the flanges are thenflattened and trued up to complete the formation of the central portionof the housing.

With a housing of the type shown in Figure 6,

either a full floating housing or a passenger car type of housing can beproduced. If a full floating type of housing is desired, the ends of thearm portions 1 are upset or swaged to form the bearing seatportions 20and .22 for receivingthe 6 hub of a vehicle wheel or the like, which isadapted to be rotated by axle spindles extending through the armportions I to a'diiferential assembly carried in the banjo frame It.This swasins operation for forming the bearing seats 10 may be asdescribed in detail in the Mogford & Spatta patent, No. 1,978,685, ofOctober 30, 1934,

' and is not pertinent to the present invention.

If desired, the housing may be of the passenger car type shown in Figure8, in which case, the ill ends of the'arm portion, 7 are subjected toendwise upsetting to form enlarged thickened bearing seat portions 23,and radially extending thickened annular flanges 24 as described indeabove. The type of housing to be subsequently formed, after the banjohas beenproduced in accordance with the present invention, may be variedas desired, and it is to be understood that I the present invention isdirected particularly to: 25

flcationsmay be made in the particularprocess without departing from theunderhring principles thereof, and I therefore intend to limit theinvention onlyas defined by the scope and spirit of the appended claims.

I claim;

1. In the method of making a banjo type axle housing, the novel stepswhich comprise providing a tubular blank, flattening the central portionof the blank transversely to provide a central substantially planardouble walled sec- 40 tion having tubulararrns projecting oppositelytherefrom, and forcing the two walls of said section apart intooppositely facing channel shaped portions for completing a cylindricalbanjo frame at the center of the blank having its axis normal to theaxis of said arms.

2. In the method of forming an axle housing,

' the novel steps comprising providing a tubular blank of uniform wallthickness, transversely rolling the central portion of said blank toreduce the wall thickness thereof and flatten the same into asubstantially planar double walled section, and subsequently spreadingsaid flattened wall portions apart into a substantially circulardiflerential housing frame.

3. In the method of forming an axle housing, the novel steps comprisingproviding a tubular blank of uniform wall thickness, transverselyrollingthe central portion of said blank to reduce the wall thicknessthereof and flatten the same, shearing oi! the opposite defining edgesof said flattened portion, and spreading said flattened portion into asubstantially circular banjo frame. 7

4. In the, method of forming an axle housing, the novel steps comprisingproviding a tubular blank of uniform wall thickness, transverselyrolling the central portion of said blank to reduce the wall thicknessthereof and flatten the same intoa double walled planar portion,separating said walls along their lateral edges, and subsequentlyspreading said walls by internal expansion into a substantially circulardifferential housing frame. a

the banjo type from a tubular blank of uniform wall thickness and of adiameter equal to the diameter of the arm portions of the flnishedhousing, which comprises flattening the central portion of said blank,removing the lateral defining edges of the flattened portion to formseparate planar walls, spreading the walls of said flattened portionapart sufllcient to deflne a transverse opening therethrough, andsubsequently forming said. portion into a circular diflerential housingframe of reduced wall thickness.

6. The method of forming an axle housing which comprises providing atubular blank of a length equivalent to the length of said housing,rolling the central portion of said blank to flatten and transverselyextend the walls of said portion, shearing oil the opposite deflningedges of said flattened portion, and spreading the walls of said portionapart to define a circular flanged difl'erential frame.

7. The method of forming an axle housing from a tubular blank whichcomprises flattening the central portion of said blank, simultaneouslytransversely elongating the walls of said portion and reducing thethickness thereof, shearing off the opposite folded transverse edges ofsaid flattened portion, preliminarily spreading the longitudinal centralportion of said flattened portion, spreading the flattened walls apartinto opposed '80 substantially semi-cylindrical portions, forming from atubular blank which comprises flattening the central portion of saidblank, simultaneously transversely elongating the walls of said portionand reducing the thickness thereof, shearing off the opposite foldedtransverse edges of said flat-' tened portion, preliminarily spreadingthe longitudinal central portion of said flattened portion,

spreading the flattened walls apart into opposed substantiallysemi-cylindrical portions, forming said last-named portions into acircular flanged,

banjo frame, and upsetting the ends of said blank to form enlargedbearing seat portions terminat- .ing in radially extending annularflanges.

9. In the process of forming an axle housing from a tubular blank, thesteps cunprising flattening the central portion of said blank to producea double walled substantially planar section,

ing oi! the folded opposite defining walls of said flattened portion,passing apunch longitudinally through the blank to produce an initialspreading,

and subsequently spreading the ,walls 'of said flattened portion apartto form a,circular banjo frame intermediate the, ends of said blank.

Joann a. game.

